Lara's Writing Up Diary - inspired by Jojo

L

*amazed , not amazing lol

M

Good luck with the July deadline Lara! You seem to be progressing very well.

F*ck, I must change my margins!!

L

thanks miss spacey!

good luck with your margins!

yep better to do it now, then later. and then just keep it as the default, until your thesis is done and dusted.

I am still debating, whether to have the writing, justified, or unjustified. some people tell me to justify it, others say dont justify the text.

M

I've just changed my margins - I don't like the big gap on the left - but alas, it's required!

What font and spacing are you using?

I am using Times New Roman, and 1 1/2 spacing. Some people use double spacing, but this seems to spacey to me.

I'm justifying the text.

L

i'm leaning towards double space

at the moment i have it 1 and half, so i can work easily on my chapter. but in the end, i probably opt for double, so that it is easier for the examiners to read.

yah i know what you mean about the left side looking weird.

glad you sorted out your margins

how is it going miss spacey?

okay so you've justified the text. okay good to know another person who's deciding to do that. hehe

L

i'm also using times new roman, font 12. and i will do double space.

B

My university specifies double-spacing for PhD theses in the official regulations, so I'm going with that for the versions sent to supervisors etc. While typing/editing though I prefer to use single-spacing myself: get a much better sense of a chapter's overall structure and balance, and the arguments running through.

B

And I've always used justified format for thesis chapters. Still have to sort out my margins but I'm yonks away from submitting and am focusing on building the content more for now.

L

sounds great bilbo!

and good idea, i will aswell send it as double space when i send in my first draft. i agree, its much easier to actually work on your thesis when its single or 1.5.

how is your thesis coming along? when do you have to submit?

B

I'm a part-time student and started writing early so I've ages to go. I have to submit by March 2010 per the university, and March 2011 per AHRC. Getting a year's extension from the university wouldn't be a problem given my health situation (seriously ill long-term). Still at about 50,000 words (must reach 80,000) but making good progress and aiming to finish my full draft barring conclusions by around Christmas this year, leaving time to do any more research needed and redrafting.

Good luck with your deadline.

M

I'm not doing too bad, Lara, but I must produce another chapter within 3/4 weeks.

I'm leaning towards double spacing myself - but because I'll be writing around 90-100k, it will probably result in binding the thesis in 2 volumes, which I don't want to do.

For a science PhD, double spacing seems a more sensible option as you'll have figures n' stuff (---that's me being technical).

L

Bilbobagins,

everytime i see your username, reminds me of the time when i was obsessed with LOTR

wow 2010 is ages away.. that's sooo excellent you have 50,000 words already written! wow i am impressed

i'm sorry to hear about your illness i admire you working away at your phd even with your health issues. that is indeed very commendable.

sounds like you're doing well and working hard.
thanks for the well wishes regarding my deadline!
---

L

missspacey, glad to hear about your progress us septembers gotta stick together

good luck with your deadline! you can do it :)!!

wow 100k! yah would be a shame to have it in two volumes, in that respect 1.5 does seem the better option

yah double space is good for science, you're right :)


L

*clocks out*

spent about 9 hours, working on section 2 of my results section of chapter 4.

total words today = 1847 words
figures = 4

calling it a night now. and starting again tommorow morning, instead of overworking myself tonight.

R

wow! imagine if every registered user on this webpage got inspired and started making a personal diary, then i believe the server will crash due to data overload.

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